Mirror Lake Scenic Byway - July 17, 2010

We love exploring.  Last year, we took a wander along the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway and the North Slope Scenic Backway for a weekend trip (July 31-Aug 2, 2009).  James would really like to repeat that loop sometime, but this weekend we decided to just drive the Mirror Lake Highway and then finish our loop by driving down a little road - looked like it could be a dirt road according to the Utah Atlas - through the towns of Upton and Coleville.

Sometime this winter/spring there must have been an incredible storm.  We saw lots of trees that had broken (if they were alreay dead) or uprooted and were lying on the ground.  In the campgrounds and scenic overlook areas, there was a lot of clean-up going on to remove the trees.

Last year, we had a long way to drive, so we didn't stop along the Mirror Lake Byway very often - just took in the view from the car.  Today, we stopped as often as we wanted and checked out the sights.  Little Blue at the Provo River Scenic Overlook.

This is a 6-mile-long tunnel that the BLM built in the late 1940s to bring water from the Duschene River into the Provo River. 6-miles!

Slate Gorge.

Wild flowers.

Provo Falls - these are great.  There are multiple levels of waterfalls and people eating lunch or wading in the water (unless it is deep and fast like today) and it is really a pretty place to stop and stretch the legs.

We also stopped at a pull-out for the Crystal Lake trailhead - there are tons of lakes along this stretch of road and we wanted to go on a quick hike.  We decided not to hike up to Crystal Lake, but to wander around the edge of Lake Washington instead.  We figured it would take about an hour to walk all the way around. 

After about 5 minutes, we were speed walking through the trees and trying not to get eaten alive by the mosquitos.  Kind of like a dance:  Brush your hand along your left leg.  Brush your right arm.  Swish around your head.  Brush your right leg.  Brush your left arm.  Swish around your head.  Repeat.

After another 10 minutes of dance-hiking along the shoreline we turned around and went back to the car.  Neither of us had thought to pack bug-spray for a Saturday drive.  We got to hike for a total of 30 minutes and I think I've got a mosquito bite per minute.  I didn't stop long enough to take any pictures - there were man-eating mosquitos out there!

In May, the news reported that Utah has new "Welcome to Utah" signs.  The state installed 35 new signs, using seven different designs that would basically advertise for nearby attractions.

1. The Wasatch Mountains

2. Golden Spike National Monument

3. A Skier

4. A Dinosaur

5. Delicate Arch

6. Lake Powell

7. Zion National Park

Our drive took us into Wyoming for a very short stretch and we turned around at the border to see which Utah sign it might be.  It was the skier!

There was no sign along the dirt road we took to get back into Utah, but it was a fun drive.  The dirt stretch was pretty short and we had a nice paved road back home again.  We ate lunch before we left and I packed some summer sausage, cheese and apple slices (forgot the crackers) for snacks.  We ate those up and by the time we got home we were SO ready for dinner. 

Note to self: Always pack hiking shoes, bug spray, sunscreen, camera, extra water and lots of snacks!

Simpson Family Reunion - July 9-12, 2010

We took the LOOOOONG way to the family reunion this year.  We invited Brian and Tiffany to come with us - so we had a detour into Rexburg.  Brian didn't get out of class until 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon, so James and I went to the Idaho Falls Temple for a session on our way.

Friday July 9, 2010 - Idaho Falls Temple

We finally got to the campground at about 3 a.m.  Ugh that was late.  Amazingly, nobody slept in the car.  We had borrowed a 4-man tent from backcountry's gear closet, so we set it up in the dark for the first time.  It had one crooked pole, but otherwise set up without difficulty.  While we prepped our campsite, we heard coyotes off in the distance.  And then for the next hour-or-so we hear cows complaining about the coyotes.

I told James earlier that no one was going to wake up and come outside to say hello, that early in the morning.  I was wrong.  Kristen had gotten up to reset a braker and came over to say hello to me.  James was somewhere and I was rummaging in the car.  So Kristen walked up to Brian and Tiffany and they all stared at each other in the dark until I saw Kristen and came out for a hug.  Too funny!

Considering the time we finally got to sleep, I am so proud of myself for getting up at 8:30 am for french toast breakfast and visiting with the family.  (The rest of my tent slept through breakfast!)

Happy Birthday! 32! Open presents with McKayla. She turns 8 in 9 days.

Aspen helped Oma open her present. Oma's birthday was on July 6th.

Carlee brought the most enormous marshmellows for s'mores.  I think they are about 5x larger than any other marshmellow I've ever seen.  So James made s'mores for breakfast.  Two full-size graham crackers, one full-size chocolate bar and one enormous marshmellow.  And James said that he had too much marshmellow!
James and Brian declined to go rafting down the Payette River with us, so I put James in charge of the camera.  Here we are jumping off the bridge at the Cabarton put-in.  This was Tiffany and McKayla's first jump.  And McKayla's first rafting adventure.  I'm an experienced river rat.

Rafting down the Payette River.  Our boat had Opa, Kim, McKayla, Hannah, Tiffany and me.

McKayla "fell" in the river a few times.  Any time our boat got close enough to Jed's boat.  Anytime Jed's raft came close, Hannah would crawl to the far side of our raft - she's a really experienced river rat!  Tiff only fell in once, during a flat stretch when our raft bounced on a sneaky rock.  We had a good waterfight with Jed's boat.  I got "thumped" with an oar and Stella cried when Opa stole her from Jed's raft.  She didn't want to go in Opa's boat.  Otherwise, Stella is an awesome river rat!  So is McKayla!

James and Brian drove to the top of West Mountain while Tiffany and I rafted.  They met up with us just above the take-out and swam with us the rest of the way.

After rafting, we enjoyed dinner, some softball throwing and catching and fetching, Homer the Clown, a pinata, a shower, some campfire chatting and an early retirement to the tent.
Sunday July 11, 2010 - So sad to leave the family reunion so soon!  We drove up to McCall for a quick drive-around and watched one of the fire tanker airplanes take off and circle around for awhile.  Then back to Cascade to check out Kelly's Whitewater Park.  And finally, down to the Eagle Bike Park for a break from driving.

James

Brian on Clay's BMX bike

Tiffany on my dumpster bike

I even rode the bike a little bit around the pump park.  Until I fell over and James had to pick up the bike and dust all the dirt off.  Totally embarrassing.  Then Tiffany had to one-up me and crash on the big jumps.  Even had some great road-rash on her elbow and knee.  OUCH!

Got a couple good videos of the guys on the dirt jumps:

Video 1 - James

Video 2 - Brian

Video 3 - Brian and James

We got back into Rexburg at about midnight.  Brian has a 7:45 am class and Tiffany has an early start time for her work on Monday morning.  So James and I bunked in Tiffany's back livingroom and slept in way later than both of them! 

We took our time getting back to North Salt Lake and unloaded the car into the livingroom.  Where all the stuff will sit until we find the motivation to put it all away again.  Maybe next month.

And it was incredible fun to have a birthday card from GandG Price and a box of "Birthday Booty" from Alaska to open as soon as we got back.  Thanks for the birthday wishes and next year I'm skipping out on birthday thumps from the rafting paddle!